Chapter 206: Tsunade's Inner Conflict
Learning the Spirilization Jutsu was difficult at the beginner stage and possessed significant destructive power, yet it was only suitable for surprise attacks. In situations like the Chunin Exams or the previous fight against Yugito, using the Spirilization Jutsu was absolutely out of the question. If an opponent simply raised a kunai and destroyed her physical body, she would be completely finished.
This technique had to be used under absolutely secure conditions.
With Ino's spiritual body now condensed and formed, she could change her shape within Tsunade's body as she pleased. She was in a solidified state, whereas the souls of ordinary ninja were evenly dispersed throughout their bodies. As seen when the Third Hokage sealed Orochimaru's hands in the original timeline, once the soul of a hand was severed, that hand was rendered useless. There was no concept of 'evening it out' or drawing soul from elsewhere in the body.
If Tsunade were to desperately resist now, Ino could engage in a kind of guerrilla warfare, seizing opportunities to completely shred Tsunade's hands within her soul, or simply sever a portion of her soul, and it would be over for Tsunade. This was the terrifying aspect of the Spirilization Jutsu.
Figures like the Sage of Six Paths were outside the scope of this discussion. Purely in terms of the soul, ordinary people's souls were actually quite similar. But the detestable thing about the Spirilization Jutsu was that its application felt like a 'dimensionality reduction attack.' It was like a martial artist of the same build fighting a normal person. Both had two hands, two feet, and a head, so why couldn't the normal person defeat the martial artist? Because their application of strength was simply not on the same level.
Ino had no intention of harming Tsunade, and Tsunade didn't have the slightest defensive thought towards her.
This use of Spirilization Jutsu was very brief. After demonstrating a few minor abilities, she quickly withdrew. Ino's successful use of Spirilization didn't mean the technique was completely perfected; on the contrary, this was just the beginning.
Currently, when returning to her body, she relied on the methods of the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques. Now, they needed to reverse-engineer the process from the result, figuring out how to complete the entire Spirilization Jutsu process without using the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques. Only then would it be considered truly complete.
With Ino successfully mastering the Spirilization Jutsu, her Yin Release level, though not yet LV5, felt like it was on the verge of reaching it. This might have been due to Spirilization, the trial at the Waterfall of Truth, or perhaps the clash between Indra's and Asura's chakra.
Ino's 'Illusion' attribute increased slightly. It was previously 4 and automatically rose to 5. Both her ability to cast genjutsu and her resistance to it had become stronger.
The three people and one pig traveled with stops and starts, returning to land and continuing their "gold acquisition" mission. The Chunin Exams were on July 1st, followed a month later by Orochimaru's Leaf Village Destruction Plan on August 1st. Then, ten days after that, the Third Hokage passed away, and Jiraiya took over as the Fifth Hokage. It was now mid-September, and they didn't have much time left for the mission.
September 22nd: Drinking.
September 23rd: Gambling.
September 24th: Drinking.
September 25th: Gambling.
The three people and one pig meandered through the eastern region of the Land of Fire like they were just drifting through life, eventually arriving in the Land of Tea. They found the 'sucker' Tsunade knew – Mr. Jirocho, the president of the Vigorous Society Organization.
Using the Leaf Village's reputation as collateral, Tsunade wrote an IOU and borrowed thirty million Ryo as start-up capital from him. Shizune, being the honest one, spread rumors in the smaller countries like the Land of Tea, Land of Vegetables, and Land of Rice, claiming that the Land of Fire had a massive harvest this year and grain prices were about to plummet. Several rice merchants frantically sold off their stored grain, and Ino bought it all up. Then, she took the southern shipping route and transported it to the Land of Water to sell.
The Land of Water was isolated overseas, had few farmlands, and high grain prices. Ino sold all the stored grain she transported there at high prices. Afterward, she bought large quantities of ambergris, coral, agate, and other goods from the local area and shipped them back to the Land of Tea.
Such large-scale transactions were bound to attract covetous eyes. Countless people wanted to take a gamble and strike it rich, turning a bicycle into a motorcycle. But these guys truly weren't afraid of that! They might be outsiders when it came to business, but they were experts at fighting!
Wanted to rob Ino at sea? Even Kisame Hoshigaki might have trouble. They eliminated all sorts of bandits, highwaymen, and pirates they encountered. Anything valuable was exchanged for bounties; those without value were sent to be reincarnated. Pirate ships, weapons, ammunition, and the like were all sold off. They killed along the way.
After all this operation, by the time they returned to the Land of Tea, the "gold acquisition" team had ninety million Ryo in funds, including principal and profit. After returning the thirty million Ryo principal to Mr. Jirocho, and glossing over some 'losses' that couldn't be clearly accounted for, they prepared to return to the village with the remaining sixty million Ryo.
Then, Tsunade gambled away fifty million Ryo in one night, and as expected, lost it all.
Ino, Shizune, and Tonton stood at the casino entrance, silently shedding tears. They felt it wasn't fair to the pirates and bandits they had eliminated along the way. Look at these counterparts in the casinos! They sit at a gambling table and make money! Could you ever imagine this scene? Why did you risk your lives trying to rob us? If only you had opened casinos, you would have made money that way!
Seeing that only ten million Ryo was left to take back to the village, and worried about how to explain it to Jiraiya, Ino and Shizune took turns trying to persuade Tsunade. "Please, Elder Tsunade, stop giving away money! Have mercy on the bandits who tried to rob us along the way! If you keep losing, they'll rise from their graves in anger!"
"No... I, hic... I can definitely win it back. Really, believe me, this time my premonition is absolutely accurate... What? Go back to the village? I'm not going back to the village!"
Ino and Shizune exchanged glances, looking at each other in confusion. What happened to her? She seemed so happy when she was drinking with Jiraiya in the village a few days ago.
When repeatedly pressed about why she didn't want to return to the village, Tsunade drunkenly revealed a reason. "They must all be laughing at me behind my back... laughing at me, a descendant of the Senju clan..."
Tsunade still carried some inner conflict. The brilliance of her ancestors was too dazzling, making her appear somewhat mediocre in comparison. Coupled with her hemophobia, behind her usual carefree demeanor was nothing but sadness.
"What should we do about this?" Ino and Shizune discussed privately.
Tsunade and Shizune were like mother and daughter, and Tsunade had been good to Ino, secretly and openly covering for her many times. Both morally and logically, they should help their teacher resolve this inner conflict.
Shizune asked, "Do you think Lady Tsunade can learn Wood Style? If she learned Wood Style, maybe she could regain some fighting spirit?"
"Well..." Ino thought seriously for a moment. "To be honest, I only learned it by chance. Moreover, what I have can't really be called Wood Style; at most, it's Flower Style. It would probably be very difficult for Teacher to replicate my experience."
Shizune lowered her head for a few seconds, then said very firmly, "Wood Style can be transmitted through bloodline, but I think it should also be achievable through training, right? I don't have the Senju clan bloodline, but I think we can use me as an experiment to see if I can replicate this experience? Even if there's only one in ten thousand chance?"
Her beautiful senior sister's expression was sincere. Ino motioned for her to calm down, and Tonton also squealed "Puyopuyo" a couple of times.
Ino said, "Let's not alarm Teacher. We should research it ourselves first. First question, Senior Sister, do you currently have Water, Earth, and Yang nature chakra?"
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